The nine attainments and entering the fruitThe nine successive attainments (samāpatti) and the entry into the fruit.

abidings By "nine jhānas" are meant the nine successive abidings (navānupubbavihāra): four fine-material absorptions (rūpa-jhāna), four immaterial ones (arūpa-jhāna) and, as the ninth, the cessation of perception and feeling (saññāvedayitanirodha). They build on one another — each coarser support falls away, the object becomes subtler (DN 33; AN 9.32; MN 111, Anupada Sutta). # Pāḷi What characterises it Object 1 paṭhama-jhāna vitakka, vicāra, pīti, sukha, ekaggatā fine-material sign (nimitta) 2 dutiya-jhāna vitakka/vicāra fall away; inner stillness the same sign 3 tatiya-jhāna pīti falls away; equanimous, mindful, sukha the same sign 4 catuttha-jhāna sukha falls away; neutral feeling, purity of upekkhā-sati the same sign 5 ākāsānañcāyatana "space is infinite" concept of space 6 viññāṇañcāyatana "consciousness is infinite" the consciousness of the 1st immaterial stage 7 ākiñcaññāyatana "there is nothing" non-being / absence 8 nevasaññānāsaññāyatana neither perception nor non-perception the citta of the 7th stage 9 saññāvedayitanirodha citta and cetasika cease entirely no object

The standard formula (MN 39; DN 2): detached from sensuality and from what is unwholesome, the first jhāna is entered, with vitakka (directing towards) and vicāra (remaining with the object), pīti (rapture) and sukha (happiness), carried by ekaggatā (one-pointedness) — "rapture and happiness born of seclusion" (vivekajaṃ pītisukhaṃ). In the second jhāna, vitakka and vicāra come to rest; what remains is inner stillness, rapture and happiness "born of concentration" (samādhijaṃ pītisukhaṃ). In the third, pīti fades; the practitioner abides equanimous, mindful and clearly comprehending, "experiences happiness with the body" — upekkhako satimā sukhavihārī. In the fourth, sukha falls away as well; what remains is neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling and the "purity of mindfulness through equanimity" (upekkhā-sati-pārisuddhi). The sustaining factors: only upekkhā and ekaggatā. This is the basis for the immaterial spheres, for the supernormal faculties and for deep vipassanā. (The Abhidhamma sometimes divides fivefold, separating the falling away of vitakka and vicāra into two steps — then there are five rūpa-jhānas. The sutta count is fourfold.)

They differ not in their factors (always upekkhā + ekaggatā) but only in the object, which becomes ever subtler:

In Abhidhamma terms, nevasaññānāsaññāyatana is the most instructive stage, because the mechanics of citta and cetasika show themselves in it. The name Perception (saññā) is here so extremely attenuated that it no longer carries out its function — marking and recognising. It is too weak to be called "perception", yet has not entirely vanished. Hence: neither the one nor the other. The commentarial comparison (Visuddhimagga X): a bowl wiped out with oil — one cannot pour any oil out ("there is none"), and yet the film is there ("there is oil"). The object This stage takes the citta of the previous stage as its object — that of the sphere of nothingness, appreciated as "peaceful". So a conditioned object, never nibbāna. What happens to citta and cetasika The heart of it: saññā and vedanā belong to the seven universal cetasikas (sabbacittasādhāraṇa, citta-cetasika document, 1.a) — they are present in every citta. As long as a citta exists, perception and feeling must be present. That is exactly what explains the name: because a citta is there, perception cannot be absent — it can only be reduced to a trace. "No perception" would be impossible. In detail: it is an immaterial-sphere absorption citta (arūpāvacara) arising with its cetasikas — bound by the same arising, ceasing, object and base. The sustaining factors: upekkhā (neutral feeling) and ekaggatā — as in the fourth jhāna. Vitakka, vicāra, pīti, sukha are long gone. All seven universal cetasikas (phassa, vedanā, saññā, cetanā, ekaggatā, jīvitindriya, manasikāra) are there, but at their weakest functional level; as a wholesome immaterial citta, the beautiful factors too (sati, saddhā and others). A canonical testimony to the subtlety: in the Anupada Sutta (MN 111), Sāriputta discerns the mental factors one by one in the earlier absorptions while abiding in them — but at this eighth stage he first emerges and contemplates them afterwards, because the factors are too fine to be resolved within the state itself.

The ninth is no longer a jhāna with an object but the temporary suspension of all mental activity: citta and cetasika cease. The name saññāvedayitanirodha — "cessation of perception and feeling" — names precisely those two universal cetasikas whose ceasing marks the stopping of the mind. Only life force and bodily warmth remain (the difference from death). The leap from the eighth to the ninth is thus exactly the difference between "perception reduced to a trace" (8th: citta + cetasika present, only faint) and "all mental activity stopped" (9th: no citta, no cetasika). Commentarially (Visuddhimagga XXIII): accessible only to non-returners and arahants who additionally master all eight attainments; entered by resolve, sustainable for up to seven days; on emerging, the first moments are phala-cittas.

citta The eighth stage and the phala-citta do not lie on the same ladder: the eighth is mundane (lokiya), samatha, with a conditioned object; the phala-citta is supramundane (lokuttara), with nibbāna as its object. Their only point of contact runs through the cessation. The two brackets around the cessation … 7. sphere of nothingness → (vipassanā + resolves) → 8. nevasaññānāsaññāyatana (one or two moments) → ceasing (no citta) → [emergence] → phala-citta (nibbāna as object) → bhavaṅga → review Sequence (Visuddhimagga XXIII): the noble one ascends the absorptions and after each one contemplates what was experienced as anicca/dukkha/anattā. After the sphere of nothingness he makes the preparatory resolves (duration, requisites, Saṅgha). Then he enters the eighth — and after one or two moments the stream of consciousness goes out: that is the cessation. On emerging, the first citta to arise again is a phala-citta (for the non-returner the anāgāmi fruition, for the arahant the arahatta fruition). The eighth stage is thus the gate into the cessation, the phala-citta the first thing out of it. But nearness is not sameness: to pass through the eighth (with its conditioned object) and even to traverse the suspension does not mean having nibbāna as object — only the phala-citta has that.

So that no misunderstanding arises: the ordinary phala-samāpatti (re-entering one's own fruition, citta-cetasika document, 3.h) does not require the eight absorptions. Two different ladders The eight absorptions are the ladder of concentration. The phala-samāpatti is the re-entering of the fruition already realised; its preconditions are (a) the path already realised and (b) the ability to kindle the insight afresh. The concentration needed is supplied by vipassanā itself. Entry by way of insight The noble one takes up the contemplation of conditioned phenomena again: udayabbaya-ñāṇa — arising and passing away become fresh once more; this is where the re-entry begins (not as memory but as present perception). the higher stages of insight run through quickly; saṅkhārupekkhā-ñāṇa — the threshold; anuloma — the moments of adaptation; their object is still conditioned; phala — the fruition moments, now with nibbāna as object. No new magga arises (the path only once per stage) and no gotrabhū (no renewed change of lineage — the practitioner is already ariya). Momentary concentration The key is khaṇika-samādhi, momentary concentration: strong, unbroken observing generates from moment to moment enough concentration to carry the stages of insight and the fruition — functionally equivalent to access concentration, without ever passing over into absorption. The "dry insight" practitioner Sukkha-vipassaka — "dry insight person", without the "moisture" of samatha absorption. He realises the path through insight alone, with mere momentary concentration, without ever having developed a jhāna — and as a noble one can re-enter his own phala purely by way of vipassanā. The canonical anchor is the Susīma Sutta (SN 12.70): arahants liberated by wisdom (paññā-vimutta) who do not possess the immaterial liberations and are nevertheless full arahants.

A fine Abhidhamma point: "without jhāna" means without mundane jhāna. The supramundane citta itself rests one-pointedly on nibbāna and is therefore classified as a "jhāna" citta — for the dry-insight practitioner at the level of the first jhāna (with all five factors). No contradiction, but exact bookkeeping. Contrast nirodha-samāpatti (9th) phala-samāpatti Precondition all eight jhānas + non-returner/arahant only the realised path Access samatha + vipassanā vipassanā alone for the sukkha-vipassaka? no yes Object none (no citta) nibbāna The error would be to think one must first master the immaterial stages in order to enter one's own fruition. That confuses the rare nirodha route with the ordinary phala route.

None of the nine is nibbāna — this is not my judgement but the canon's: with Āḷāra Kālāma the Bodhisatta learnt the sphere of nothingness, and with Uddaka Rāmaputta neither-perception-nor-non-perception — and he expressly rejected both, because they do not lead to liberation (MN 26, Ariyapariyesanā). The two highest immaterial states were judged by the Awakened One personally not to be deliverance. The object test (document 3, part 4): the object of every stage is conditioned (a sign, space, consciousness, nothingness, a subtle perception) — never nibbāna. Even the cessation is an attainment entered and left under conditions. Their real value: the jhānas are a platform for insight. From each of them (up to the sphere of nothingness) the practitioner can emerge and contemplate: "whatever feeling, perception and formations there were in it are anicca, dukkha, anattā" (MN 52, Aṭṭhakanāgara; MN 111). Only this seeing leads to the change of object. With that, the circle closes back to document 3: the immaterial spheres are exactly the states that are misread as "empty, boundless awareness" or as a "ground of Buddha nature" — precious as concentration and as a springboard, but all bearing the signature of anicca and having a conditioned object.

Sources Original sources (Pāḷi canon) DN 33 (Saṅgīti Sutta) — the nine anupubbavihāra in the enumeration AN 9.32 / 9.31 — the nine successive abidings / cessations MN 111 (Anupada Sutta) — Sāriputta discerns the factors stage by stage MN 39 / DN 2 — the fourfold jhāna formula MN 26 (Ariyapariyesanā) — Āḷāra/Uddaka; rejection of the two highest immaterial states MN 52 (Aṭṭhakanāgara) — the jhānas/immaterial states as a basis for insight SN 12.70 (Susīma Sutta) — arahants liberated by wisdom without the immaterial attainments Commentaries (Theravāda) Visuddhimagga X (the immaterial attainments, the oil-bowl simile), XXIII (nirodha-samāpatti, phala-samāpatti) — Buddhaghosa Abhidhammattha-saṅgaha I (classes of consciousness, jhāna levels of the lokuttara citta), IX (meditation/kammaṭṭhāna) — Nārada / Bhikkhu Bodhi Mahasi Sayadaw, The Progress of Insight — re-entry into the fruition by way of insight

KNOWLEDGE / GUESS KNOWLEDGE — canonically attested The nine anupubbavihāra and their formulas (DN 33; AN 9.32; MN 111); the fourfold jhāna formula (MN 39; DN 2) Rejection of the two highest immaterial states as not liberating (MN 26); jhāna/immaterial states as a basis for insight (MN 52; MN 111) Liberation without the immaterial attainments — paññā-vimutta arahants (SN 12.70) That saññā and vedanā cease in the ninth (the name saññāvedayitanirodha) KNOWLEDGE — commentarial (Theravāda) The analysis of jhāna factors, the fivefold Abhidhamma scheme; saññā/vedanā as universal cetasikas (Abhidhammattha-saṅgaha I–II) The object of the eighth stage = the nothingness citta; saññā as a trace incapable of function (the oil-bowl simile, Visuddhimagga X) Nirodha-samāpatti: conditions of access, sequence, seven days, phala on emerging (Visuddhimagga XXIII) Phala-samāpatti by way of insight, khaṇika-samādhi, sukkha-vipassaka / samathayānika; classification of the lokuttara cittas by jhāna level (Visuddhimagga XXIII; Abhidhammattha-saṅgaha I, IX) GUESS / to be checked The exact number of cetasikas associated with an immaterial citta (the way the CMA edition counts) The exact number of anuloma moments and the Pāli details in each edition Whether passing through the cessation counts as "touching the deathless with the body" is interpretive; the attainment itself remains conditioned and is not nibbāna The assignment of the experienced "boundless awareness" to viññāṇañcāyatana, or of the "state of emptiness" to ākiñcaññāyatana, is an experience-based analysis and can only be placed with certainty together with a teacher

Glossary anupubbavihāra — the successive abidings (the nine) arūpa-jhāna — immaterial absorption (stages 5–8) ākāsānañcāyatana — sphere of infinite space (5th) ākiñcaññāyatana — sphere of nothingness (7th) anuloma — moments of adaptation before fruition/cessation (conditioned object) bhavaṅga — life continuum; the passive stream of consciousness ekaggatā — one-pointedness, concentration (jhāna factor) jhāna — meditative absorption khaṇika-samādhi — momentary concentration (which carries vipassanā) lokiya / lokuttara — mundane / supramundane nevasaññānāsaññāyatana — neither perception nor non-perception (8th) nirodha-samāpatti — cessation of perception and feeling (9th) paññā-vimutta — liberated by wisdom (without the immaterial attainments) phala / phala-samāpatti — fruition / re-entering the fruition pīti / sukha — rapture / happiness (jhāna factors) rūpa-jhāna — fine-material absorption (stages 1–4) saññāvedayitanirodha — cessation of perception and feeling sukkha-vipassaka — "dry insight" practitioner (without jhāna) upekkhā — equanimity / neutral feeling viññāṇañcāyatana — sphere of infinite consciousness (6th) vitakka / vicāra — directing towards / remaining with the object (jhāna factors)